


Crystal Soul

by Night-Lie (Night_Lie)



Category: LazyTown, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Far Too Many Capitalized Words, Gen, Near Death Experiences, i don't remember comma rules, just stealing an element from my fav anime and manga, not actually a crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 20:56:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20216164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Lie/pseuds/Night-Lie
Summary: When Sportacus loses his Crystal, he’s quickly running out of time to save himself, and to keep his Pink Daughter from having cause for nightmares.





	Crystal Soul

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting as is for a few years now so I figured I'd just throw this here and prove I'm alive.
> 
> No beta, just grammar check.

_Only Stingy’s parents would give a child a functioning car,_ Sportacus thinks, back-flipping away from the town square, and the obvious trap that has Robbie’s name all over it. He should tell someone there’s another hole that needs to be filled. He can’t spend the whole day by it, making sure no one falls in, or filling it himself.

Well, he could, but he doesn’t really want to.

After a few more skillful vaults, he’s suddenly aware of a strange fogginess in his mind. He comes to a full stop on his feet to inspect it. He feels a little dizzy, and his field of vision seems blurrier around the edges than it should be.

His first guess is dehydration or hunger, but he’s had plenty of water and apples as usual, so he dismisses it outright. Head-rush? It doesn’t affect him like this, not this quickly after so few flips. Something else, then.

He glances down out of habit, checking for an injury and then does a double take at the empty spot in his numbered Emblem on his chest.

His Crystal is gone.

A cold and heavy clutching emptiness fills his belly and spreads, squeezing his lungs and throat. His mouth and jaw feel oddly heavy. Adrenaline rushes through his veins as his eyes dart all over the ground, hoping to spot the little Rock. His hands hover, near his chest-plate, unable to decide whether to clench, knuckles white or not.

Frantically, he presses his fingers to the empty spot next to the zero. Not a visual hallucination, it really is empty.

His Crystal is gone.

The Crystal isn’t on the ground as far as he can see, but it must still be somewhere nearby, because he’s still up and walking. Standing. He shouldn’t just be standing around, he should be looking for the Crystal -

He needs to find it Right Now.

Off like a bullet, he dashes back to the hole, scanning the ground as he does. Once he gets there, he jumps into the pit. Not there. He jumps back out. It’s not next to the pit, either.

Had he lost it earlier, then? And he hadn’t noticed? But in that case he should’ve have felt lightheaded earlier. He keeps looking around. He needs to think.

Thinking has never been his strong suit. He needs to act, but he needs a plan of action.

He needs to find the Crystal.

He’ll just trace his steps. It has to work, he doesn’t allow for any other options. He’s just somehow dropped it, and when he goes back, he’ll find it.

He finds Stephanie instead.

***

He can see that the Pink Child isn’t deterred by the information he’s just given her. She doesn’t understand the significance of his lost Crystal. How could she? He’s never told her, and he never will.

No child should have that nightmare fuel shoved into their fragile heads by a trusted adult.

He’s getting distracted again, and he doesn’t have time for this. It’s hard to focus on Stephanie’s words, so he tries to focus on her face instead. She looks excited.

“We could make posters!” She rattles on about a reward, and he really doesn’t have time for this. He might be a little rude, but once he has his Crystal back, he can make it up to her.

“That’s a lovely idea Stephanie, but I really don’t think that’s necessary, I need to find it right now, I can’t-” She cuts him off before he can do it himself.

“You won’t need to make them, silly. And it is necessary, how will people know to look for it, if they don’t see posters about it being missing?”

I could yell about it, he thinks, but doesn’t say. She means well. She _is_ a Meanswell, after all.

He bounces on his feet, muscles straining from trying to still enough for a conversation. He needs to get moving again

“Just- Keep your eyes out for it and call for me the second you find it, okay?” 

“Of course! I’ll go tell Pixel to print out some posters, and I’ll look for the crystal while hanging them!” She waves with a smile and is gone before he can fake a heartfelt goodbye back. The second her back is turned, he’s off again.

He briefly feels better, more clear headed, and he stops, trying to chase the feeling, but it’s gone. Like the Crystal was near but has moved again. He keeps moving with renewed hope he can’t bring himself to fully stomp down.

***

The Crystal Robbie presents is fake.

It’s a Plot, to get the Wish, and he wants to be upset that Robbie would do something like this, but he’s too terrified. If Robbie doesn’t have it, the where else can he still look?

“I’m sorry Robbie, but this isn’t the right one.” 

“But I found it!”

“Yes, that’s good, but it’s not the right one. I need the right one.” If Robbie had stolen it, he would give that back instead of a fake, he’s sure. Robbie not having it crosses out several places where it could be. He’s running out of places to check faster than he is of time.

Looks like we’ll need a miracle, his mind echoes.

Robbie huffs and leaves to go back to his lair.

Sportacus considers, for the first time up until now, of his airship. He could use it for tracking.

But going to the airship might take him out of range, and then he’d be unable to get the Crystal back, even if it was found. No one could get up to him because of the locked voice recognition.

His blurry mind conjures unbidden images of the children looking up, and waiting. They’d wait down here, and wait, and he’d never come, and they’d never know why, the ship hovering above the town forever as a reminder...

He sets his jaw. No. That will not happen. He is filled with morbid motivation again, and he takes a few running steps away from the park, and the opposite direction of Robbie’s lair.

There’s a jolt, the sudden lack of something, like a sharp needle inside his head, but there's also the complete opposite.

He loses control of his limbs the same instant he loses consciousness, falling like a sack of apples on the red ground.

***

He wakes up to Stephanie crying.

“-CPR, but it’s not-” she blubbers, and it takes him a long while to comprehend the words on their own, let alone in a sentence he can’t fully focus on.

His body feels like lead, but his eyes finally lock on Stephanie. He moves his head without fully realizing and she gasps, hands grabbing his shoulders.

“Sportacus!” Her voice is like a shrill, nonverbal grab.

“I’m fine now,” he assures, voice doing things he can’t describe, chest constricting at the sight of her puffy eyes and red face. He sits up, pulls her into a hug and her cheek pressing against his chest-plate, now housing his Crystal again.

He listens to her babble about Stingy and a tree-house, and said boy jumps at the chance to apologize for being selfish.

“Just don’t do it again, Stingy.” The hollow smile hurts his cheeks and he can hear himself say from somewhere far away. His head is buzzing and he’s slowly starting to notice the needles in his limbs.

He wants to take the Crystal out, to run his fingers over its smoky off-white colored surface. He wants to wrap his chest-plate in duct tape and bubble wrap and maybe then swallow the whole thing so this can never happen again.

Instead, he holds Stephanie closer, and focuses on the fact he’s breathing.

He can hear his blood flow in his ears, and it’s barely enough proof he still has a heartbeat.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know if there's any spelling errors or stuff!


End file.
